Plateless planter

ABSTRACT

A plateless planter wherein rotating fingers pick up seeds, move them in adjoining parallel grooves in the periphery of the drum surrounding the fingers to a joint where a single opening is positioned between grooves for receiving the seeds from the rotating fingers.

O Umted States Patent 51 3,704,809 Cleek 1 Dec. 5, 1972 [54] PLATELESSPLANTER Primary Examiner-Stanley H. Tollberg [72] Inventor: AM" ICeekLaPone [mt Attorney-Kenneth C. McKivett, Charles L. Schwab andRobert B. Benson [73] Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company,Milwaukee, Wis. 57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: March 1971 A plateless planterwherein rotating fingers pick up [2]] Appl. No.: 125,532 seeds, movethem in adjoining parallel grooves in the periphery of the drumsurrounding the fingers to a 52 us Cl ..221/220 joint Where a ingleOpening is positioned between [51] in'ifci.IIIIIIIII....I.....I ..A0lc1/04 grooves for receiving the seeds from the rotating [58] Field ofSearch ..22l/2l7, 220; 111/77, 78 8 [5 6 l Reerences Cited 8 Claims, 14Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,572,547 3/l97l Walberg ..22l/220PATENTE' DEC 5 I97 SHEET 1 OF 2 PLATELESS PLANTER This invention relatesto a new and improved seed planter of the type intended to be attachedto the usual tractor and which will deposit seeds spaced apart asdesired into a furrow formed in the ground.

This invention is an improvement over the invention shown and describedin U. S. Application, Ser. Number 843,544 filed July 22, I969, now US.Pat. No. 3,572,547 reference to which may be had.

An object of this invention is provide a seed planter which will depositsingle seeds into the ground at a desired distance apart and wherein thedistance between seeds can be controlled at the will of the operator.

Another object of this invention is to provide a seed planter which willeliminate skipping during the depositing of seeds and will alsoeliminate the depositing of doubles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a plateless planter withpickup fingers operating in grooves in a band surrounding the fingersand wherein the band and the fingers are plastic and metal,respectively, or vice versa for reducing the friction between fingersand band.

Another object of this invention is to provide a plateless planter withpickup fingers made of polyeurethane for reducing the friction betweenfingers and grooves.

Another object of this invention is to provide a plateless planter withpick up fingers made of polyeurethane and wherein such finger isprovided with an enlarged solid portion coacting with the groove formoving seeds along the periphery thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a high speed planterwhich is capable of accomplishing the aforementioned objects at the highrate of speed required by modern farming.

These and other objects of the present invention are set forth ingreater detail in the following description having reference to theattached drawings wherein an illustrative embodiment is shown.

FIG. I is a side elevation of a planter embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view taken on line 11-11 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section view taken on line III- III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section view of the seed singulator taken on lineIV-IV of FIG. 3 with the sidewalls, finger disc, hub and fingers removedfor the sake of clarity;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section view of the seed discharge opening takenon line V-V of FIG. 3 with the sidewalls, finger disc, hub and fingersremoved for sake of clarity;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section view taken on line VI-- VI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged section view taken on line VII- VII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged section view taken on line VIII-VIII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged section view taken on line IX IX of FIG. 3;

FIG. I0 is an enlarged section view taken on line X- X of FIG. 3;

FIG. II is an enlarged section view taken on line XI-XI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged section view taken on line XIIXII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged section view taken on line XIII-XIII of FIG. 3;and

FIG. 14 is an enlarged section view taken on line XIV--XIV of FIG. 3.

The reference character 10 designates the planter unit as a whole.Referring to FIG. 1, the planter 10 includes a supporting frame 11mounted on a tractor carried support bar 12. A press wheel 12 isrotatably carried by a member 14 which is connected at its forward endto frame 11. A conventional hopper 16 is mounted on frame 11 and isprovided at its lower end with a depending portion 17 for providing aseed passage from hopper 16 to a circular housing or drum 18 throughopening 19 in sidewall 21 of drum 18. An opposite side wall 22 (see FIG.2) is also provided for drum 18 and is attached to frame 11 byconventional means. A circumferential band 23 (FIG. 3) connectssidewalls 21 and 22 to form drum 18. Band 23 is made up of two parts 24and 26 which are joined together as by bolting with bolts 27. A shaft(FIG. 2) 28 is joumaled in bearing 29 carried by sidewall 22. A sprocket31 is attached to one end of shaft 28 and is drivenly connected to asprocket 32 by means of chain 33. Sprocket 32 is attached to shaft 34which is joumaled in frame 11. Shaft 34 is driven by conventional means(not shown) from press wheel 13.

A disk 35 (see FIG. 3) is bolted to a hub 36 which is attached to shaft28 and disk 35 is provided with a plurality of openings 37 and 38through which angle brackets 39 are attached to disk 36 by means of capscrews 41 and nuts 42. At the outer end of each bracket 39 a seed finger43 is attached by means of cap screws 44 or other suitable means. Band23 is eccentrically mounted about shaft 28 so that shaft 28 is closer toband 23 at the lower portion of the band as shown in FIG. 3. Drum 18 isprovided with an opening 46 through which seeds are discharged. Uponleaving drum 18 the seeds pass through a hollow member 47 (see FIG. 2)from whence they are discharged into a furrow between runners 48. Thefurrow having been fonned by disks 49 which are carried by frame 11 asis also runners 48. Press wheel 13 (FIG. 1) presses soil into contactwith the dropped seeds and firms them down.

Flexible polyeurethane fingers 43 are rigidly attached at one end todisk 35 and rotate with it in the direction shown by arrow A in FIG. 3.Fingers 43 are provided with heels 51, which are enlarged portions ofgreater thickness of fingers 43 which ride in grooves 52 or 53 (FIGS. 4& 5) located in the inner diameter of circular housing 18. It should benoted that the portions of grooves 52 and 53 from top dead center B(FIG. 3) around to discharge hole 46 are concentric with shaft 28 andnot with housing 18. If these grooves 52 and 53 were concentric with thehousing, the fingers would gradually be deflected inward as the fingertraveled nearer to the discharge hole 46, thus raising the distal end ortoe 54 of the finger 43 with respect to its groove. At some point aheadof hole 46, they could be raised high enough so that the finger wouldlose its grip on the seed completely. The seed would then be releasedprematurely and either fall into the ground out of its desired positionor fall ofi to the side and return to the seed supply in drum I8 andthereby resulting in a miss in the planting. The distance from the shaft28 to the grooves at discharge hole 46 should be substantially equal tothe shaft to groove distance at top dead center.

It should be noted that adjacent fingers 43 are mounted so that they donot coact with the same groove. This relationship is clearly brought outin FIG. I4 wherein the finger 43 farthest to the left will coact withgroove 52 while the adjacent finger will coact with groove 53 and theremaining finger will react with groove 52. This alternate method ofmounting fingers along with the utilization of two grooves permits theplanter to be operated at any desired seed spacing at any reasonablespeed of the towing tractor.

During operation the housing 18 is filled with seed to approximately thelevel shown in FIG. 3. This level is continuously maintained byconventional means. A finger 43, rotating with disk 35, hub 36 and shaft28 passes into the mass of seed at point C. Due to the eccentricity ofthe shaft with respect to the housing 18, the trailing portion (anchoredend) of the finger is at its closes position relative to the housing. Asthe finger 43 moves into this position, the toe of the finger 43 movesaway (radially inwardly) from the housing groove 53, using the heel 51as a fulcrum. Thus, a maximum crosssectional area (formed by the toe andgroove bottom) is presented for engagement of one or more seeds. It isto be noted that the groove walls are beveled as shown in FIG. 13 to aidin movement of seeds into the finger path.

The finger emerges from the seed mass at D, with one or more seedsbetween the leading portion of the finger and the groove bottom. Theeccentricity of the shaft is now allowing the toe of the finger to movenearer to the groove bottom, thus creating a gripping action by thefinger on the seed. The fingers continue around to the singulatinggrooves 56 and 57 which are located approximately at the 2 oclockposition and extend parallel to grooves 53 and 52 respectively. Theconfiguration of these singulating grooves is shown in FIGS. 4 and 9. Apair of splitters 58 and 59 are positioned between the centerline of thefinger path and the singulating groove 56 and 57, respectively. Thefunction of the splitters is to disrupt the state of equilibrium thatmay exist between a finger and two or more seeds trapped under it, andto divert excess seeds into the adjoining singulating groove. Rejectedseeds are free to fall from the singulating grooves back into the seedsupply.

Occasionally two seeds may be positioned under the finger such that thesplitter forces them both toward the center line between grooves. Insuch an event, the seed nearest the center line will be retained only bythe inside edge of the finger and the center land 60 between the grooves52 and 53. To eliminate this seed the center land 60 is interrupted at61 (FIG. 4). The splitter is positioned outside of the centerline of theseed finger otherwise it could cause the rejection of seeds from under afinger where only one is present.

After the finger passes the singulating groove, the selected seed isconveyed past top dead center B (FIG. 3) and on around to the dischargehole 46. As the finger approaches the hole 46, the seed is pushedsideways by the inclined (with respect to the finger path) wall 62 (FIG.while the heel of the finger rides on the raised portion of the groovebottom 64. (See FIG. 11) In this manner the seed is released while thefinger is carried past the edge of the hole 46. If the hole extendedacross the full width of the finger path, the finger would fall into thehole (since, with the housing in place, the finger is displaced from itsfree state) and could not be brought back. The upper edge of the hole ischamfered at 63 (FIG. 5) to permit a gradual release of pressure on theseed. If this pressure is relieved abruptly, the seed is violentlysnapped outward in a radical direction. This causes the seed to bounceerratically down through drop tube 47 causing a delay in the seedreaching the ground and hence causing irregular spacing in the row aswell as possible physical damage to the seed.

After the seed is discharged the finger moves past the hole and backintothe seed mass at C and the process is repeated. It is apparent fromthe number of seed fingers provided that a wide latitude in plantingspeed is provided without moving the seeds at a speed difficult tohandle.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A seed planter comprising a circular band having a seed dischargeopening on the periphery thereof and having opposed sidewalls attachedto said band for closing same, and having a seed receiving opening at alower portion of one of said sidewalls to form a seed supply, arotatable shaft journaled in one of said sidewalls, a disk attached tosaid shaft for rotation therewith substantially midway between saidsidewalls, a plurality of fingers attached to the periphery of saiddisk, said band having a first pair of parallel extending grooves formedin the inner periphery thereof, said fingers being provided withenlarged portions fitting into said grooves for guiding said fingersduring rotation thereof, said disk being positioned between said groovesand a seed singulating means including a second pair of groovesextending parallel to said first pair of grooves and wherein said secondpair of grooves partially occupy the space of said first grooves so thatwhen said fingers are moving seeds along said first grooves excess seedswill drop off into said second grooves. I

2. A seed planter as recited in claim 1 and wherein said fingers are somounted on said disk that every other finger is positioned in one ofsaid first pair of grooves and the remaining fingers are positioned inthe other of said first pair of grooves.

3. A seed planter as recited in claim 2 and wherein said seed dischargeopening is a common opening encroaching into each of said first pair ofgrooves.

4. A seed planter as recited in claim 3 and wherein the leading surfacedefining said discharge opening is chamfered so that the release ofseeds from said fingers to said opening is gradual.

5. A seed planter as recited in claim 3 and wherein said dischargeopening is of a width that said feed fingers ride on the sidewallsforming said opening.

6. A seed planter as recited in claim 1 and wherein said fingers aremade of plastic material and said grooves are formed in metal sofriction between said fingers and said grooves is reduced.

7. A seed planter as recited in claim I and wherein said first groovesand said second grooves are separated by guide members for camming saidfingers slightly inwardly toward said shaft so that excess seeds candrop into said second grooves and return to said seed supply, said guidemembers define part of one side of said first shaft so that when saidfingers pass through said seed supply at the lower portion of said firstgrooves said fingers will be pivoted on said enlarged portions forpresenting a large area to pick up seeds, said first grooves beingconcentrically mounted about said shaft from top dead center to saiddischarge opening for preventing a premature dropping of the seeds.

1. A seed planter comprising a circular band having a seed dischargeopening on the periphery thereof and having opposed sidewalls attachedto said band for closing same, and having a seed receiving opening at alower portion of one of said sidewalls to form a seed supply, arotatable shaft journaled in one of said sidewalls, A disk attached tosaid shaft for rotation therewith substantially midway between saidsidewalls, a plurality of fingers attached to the periphery of saiddisk, said band having a first pair of parallel extending grooves formedin the inner periphery thereof, said fingers being provided withenlarged portions fitting into said grooves for guiding said fingersduring rotation thereof, said disk being positioned between said groovesand a seed singulating means including a second pair of groovesextending parallel to said first pair of grooves and wherein said secondpair of grooves partially occupy the space of said first grooves so thatwhen said fingers are moving seeds along said first grooves excess seedswill drop off into said second grooves.
 2. A seed planter as recited inclaim 1 and wherein said fingers are so mounted on said disk that everyother finger is positioned in one of said first pair of grooves and theremaining fingers are positioned in the other of said first pair ofgrooves.
 3. A seed planter as recited in claim 2 and wherein said seeddischarge opening is a common opening encroaching into each of saidfirst pair of grooves.
 4. A seed planter as recited in claim 3 andwherein the leading surface defining said discharge opening is chamferedso that the release of seeds from said fingers to said opening isgradual.
 5. A seed planter as recited in claim 3 and wherein saiddischarge opening is of a width that said feed fingers ride on thesidewalls forming said opening.
 6. A seed planter as recited in claim 1and wherein said fingers are made of plastic material and said groovesare formed in metal so friction between said fingers and said grooves isreduced.
 7. A seed planter as recited in claim 1 and wherein said firstgrooves and said second grooves are separated by guide members forcamming said fingers slightly inwardly toward said shaft so that excessseeds can drop into said second grooves and return to said seed supply,said guide members define part of one side of said first groove, andsecond guide members are positioned to define the other sides of saidfirst grooves, and an opening in said second guide members opposite fromsaid second grooves for permitting excess seeds carried by said fingersand which have not dropped into said second grooves to move off intosaid opening and return to the seed supply.
 8. A seed planter as recitedin claim 1 and wherein a lower portion of said first grooves areeccentric to said shaft so that when said fingers pass through said seedsupply at the lower portion of said first grooves said fingers will bepivoted on said enlarged portions for presenting a large area to pick upseeds, said first grooves being concentrically mounted about said shaftfrom top dead center to said discharge opening for preventing apremature dropping of the seeds.